Colby Covington Net Worth 2026: UFC Purses, Bonuses and the RAF Wrestling Money

Covington's UFC run was timed badly for anyone trying to count his money. His 2017 win over Demian Maia was in Brazil, the interim title win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225 was in Chicago, and the Robbie Lawler fight was in Newark. None of those commissions put out purses. By the time he was a headliner in Las Vegas, the Nevada commission had stopped releasing salaries in 2020.

The exception is UFC 245 on December 14, 2019. The Nevada State Athletic Commission disclosed that both Covington and Usman were guaranteed $500,000 for their first fight, which Usman won by fifth-round TKO. The Sports Daily tracker called it Covington's biggest payday at $580,000 once the Fight of the Night bonus was added, and that stayed true through at least the second Usman fight.

Everything else is an estimate. The Sports Daily listed $83,000 for Maia, $380,000 for the dos Anjos title fight, $230,000 for Lawler and $310,000 for the Tyron Woodley win in September 2020, while noting the numbers were not official. The Sports Rush estimated $500,000 for the Usman rematch at UFC 268 at Madison Square Garden. MMA Salaries, cited by The Sports Rush, put his UFC 272 win over Jorge Masvidal at $1.06 million, which would make it his highest total. BetMGM's blog estimated $782,000 for the Leon Edwards title fight at UFC 296 in December 2023. Florida did not disclose anything for the Joaquin Buckley fight in Tampa in December 2024, his last UFC bout.

Covington collected two UFC post-fight bonuses, both Fight of the Night, both $50,000. The first came for the UFC 245 war with Usman, the second for beating Masvidal at UFC 272 in March 2022. That is $100,000 total, modest for a fighter who headlined four pay-per-views. The Woodley fight produced nothing, with the bonuses that night going to Paulo Costa, Mackenzie Dern and Khamzat Chimaev. His Reebok outfitting payout for the dos Anjos fight was $30,000.

Pay-per-view points were the sore spot. LowKick MMA reported ahead of UFC 272 that Covington had earned nothing from PPV points before that fight, and he said afterward, "I want to be paid more than Jorge Masvidal. I need to be making more than Jorge." In December 2023 he told the PBD Podcast, "I can't believe what they paid me to beat that backstabbing bum up," without giving a figure.

He never hid his frustration. In September 2019, after talks for a Usman fight at UFC 244 collapsed, he told the media, "the UFC came to me with a basic challenger's offer and I'm a champion," adding, "I've won a world title and they still treat me like crap." Before UFC 245 he called UFC fighter pay "stupid and corrupt." In March 2026 he said the top stars "are making $5 million a fight" and would not speak out on pay for the rest of the roster.

Covington's endorsement portfolio was always thinner than his profile suggested, and part of that was self-inflicted. Days before UFC 245, CBD brand Cannafornia terminated his sponsorship, with CEO Paul King saying Covington had asked for a raise, promoted a rival CBD brand and deleted his Cannafornia posts "in direct violation of the sponsor agreement." No dollar figure was ever attached to the deal.

The big one came late. On February 23, 2026, Real American Beer announced Covington as a "long-term partner and investor," with a role in national marketing, retailer partnerships, live events and content tied to Real American Freestyle wrestling. He was also named host of the Fox Nation series "RAF: The Greatest Takedowns." Financial terms were not disclosed. "Real American Beer was already my go-to before this partnership, so teaming up made sense," Covington said.

The political brand that defined him, from presenting his interim belt to Donald Trump at the White House in August 2018 to Donald Jr. and Eric Trump sitting cageside for the Lawler fight, never turned into a documented revenue stream. His website sells merchandise, but no outlet has reported what it earns, so we will not guess.

Covington's UFC profile switched to "retired" on May 18, 2026, and UFC officials confirmed to CBS Sports that he had notified them. He had lobbied for a slot on the June 14 White House card and told Submission Radio the UFC was "icing him out" after more than a year on the shelf. He was 38, with a 17-5 MMA record and a 12-5 UFC mark.

Real American Freestyle, the wrestling promotion that streams on Fox Nation, became the new paycheck. Covington beat Luke Rockhold by 12-0 technical fall at RAF 05 in January 2026, Dillon Danis 14-4 at RAF 07 in March, and Chris Weidman 5-4 at RAF 09 in May. On July 18 in Milwaukee he beat Arman Tsarukyan on points, 5-3 by LowKick MMA's account, to win the inaugural RAF Crossover Cruiserweight title, then defended it with a 10-0 technical fall over Belal Muhammad at RAF 13 on September 19. He is 5-0.

He has not disclosed his RAF pay, but after the Tsarukyan match he said, "I think, honestly, I'll make more in RAF in one year than I would make in the UFC in a year," pointing out that he would wrestle "eight to 10 matches in the year" instead of fighting once or twice. For context, EssentiallySports reported that Abdulrashid Sadulaev earns up to $200,000 per RAF match including show and win money. Khamzat Chimaev and Kamaru Usman are the names he is now calling for.

The hard floor is small: a $500,000 disclosed purse, $100,000 in bonuses and $30,000 in Reebok money. The trackers do the rest. The Sports Daily had him at $2.41 million through 14 UFC fights before UFC 272, MMA Salaries at $3.62 million through 15 fights at the end of 2023, and EssentiallySports reported total UFC career earnings of about $4.4 million by July 2026. Those are gross figures before taxes, management and camps, and they exclude whatever PPV points he received for the Masvidal and Edwards fights.

Celebrity Net Worth puts him at $4 million, a third-party estimate with no breakdown, and The Sports Rush cited the same figure. Given roughly $4 million in gross UFC pay, a Real American Beer investment of unknown size and an RAF title run that is paying him regularly for the first time, our estimate is $3 million to $5 million. The low end assumes the UFC money was mostly spent. The high end assumes the RAF claim is true.

There is no MMA fight on the books and Covington has given no indication he wants one. The RAF schedule is the business plan: Chimaev said talks for a match were underway after RAF 13, and Covington has named Usman as the other target. A Chimaev match would be the biggest wrestling event the promotion has staged and the first time Covington has been the A-side of a real money fight since UFC 296.

The beer deal, the Fox Nation hosting job and a belt he can defend every six weeks give him an income structure he never had in the UFC. Whether that adds up to more than $4.4 million over the next few years is the bet he is making. For a 38-year-old who went 0-3 in undisputed title fights, it is not a bad one.